9Aug/070
Class for getting variable information
This is a work in progress. I hope to eventually have it set to where it will output a nice pretty dump of data that is also useful to the developer. Anyway, it is usable as is, but not as useful as could be.
<?php
/**
* Class that inspects a variable
*/
class Variable_Data_Dump
{
/**
* The name of the variable passed for inspection
*
* @access protected
* @var string
*/
protected $varName;
/**
* The string to send back when the variable name is not found
*
* @access protected
* @var string
*/
protected $varNameNotFound = '[name_not_found]';
/**
* The type of the variable passed for inspection
*
* @access protected
* @var string
*/
protected $varType;
/**
* The data in the variable passed for inspection
*
* @access protected
* @var mixed
*/
protected $varContent;
/**
* The output method to be used (CLI or HTML)
*
* @access protected
* @var string
*/
protected $outputMode;
/**
* Object constructor - sets object properties
*
* @access public
* @param mixed $var A reference to the varible to be inspected
* @param boolean $dumpNow Whether to dump the variable information on instantiation
*/
public function __construct(&$var, $dumpNow = false) {
$this->setVarName($var);
$this->setVarType($var);
$this->setVarContent($var);
$this->setOutputMode();
// Output is the app wants it right away
if ($dumpNow) {
$this->dumpInfo();
}
}
/**
* Gets the name of the variable to be inspected
*
* @access public
* @param mixed $var A reference to a variable that is to be inspected
* @return string The string name of the variable, or '[name_not_found]' if not found
*/
public function setVarName(&$var) {
// Before we start, we need to read the data for the var we are checking
// into a temporary var since we need to pass a reference of the var we
// want the name for. Without this, we would actually be working with
// the original variable, screwing things up royally.
$passed = $var;
// Initialize the variable name return variable
$varName = '';
// Now the fun part... we change the value of the variable whose name we
// want to something random (not the number 4 onion)
$var = 'Scarlett_'.rand().'_Johannson';
// Now we loop through the GLOBAL array and see if we find the GLOBAL array
// key that matches this value
foreach ($GLOBALS as $k => $v) {
// If the value of the GLOBAL is the same as the temp value...
if ($v === $var) {
// Then we snag the GLOBAL key and use it as our var name
$varName = $k;
// And since we have it, we no longer need to loop
break;
}
}
// If there was no name found inform the app
if (empty($varName)) {
$varName = $this->varNameNotFound;
}
// Now change the value of the variable back to its original state
$var = $passed;
// And finally set the name
$this->varName = $varName;
}
/**
* Sets the type for this variable
*
* @access protected
* @param mixed $var The variable to be inspected
*/
protected function setVarType($var) {
$this->varType = gettype($var);
}
/**
* Sets the data value for this variable
*
* @access protected
* @param mixed $var The variable to be inspected
*/
protected function setVarContent($var) {
$this->varContent = $var;
}
/**
* Actually dumps the information about this variable in a somewhat
* reasonably formatted method
*
* @access public
* @param boolean $echo Flag to determine whether to immediately output the data
* @return string|void Will either echo the data or return a string representation of it
*/
public function dumpInfo($echo = true) {
// Prepare the output string
$output = '';
// If we have a var name, add it to the output
if ($this->varName !== $this->varNameNotFound) {
$output .= 'Variable passed: $' . $this->varName . "\n";
}
// Make some nicer formatted output
$output .= 'Variable type: ' . $this->varType . "\nVariable Value: " . print_r($this->varContent, true);
// Prepare the output for outputMode
$output = $this->prepareOutput($output);
// This might not be necessary, or it and other stuff may be
//$this->varContent = null;
// Do we echo or return?
if ($echo) {
echo $output;
return;
} else {
return $output;
}
}
/**
* Set the output mode for the correct PHP environment
*
* @access protected
*/
protected function setOutputMode() {
$this->outputMode = PHP_SAPI == 'cli' ? 'text' : 'html';
}
/**
* Prepare the output based on outputMode
*
* @access protected
* @param string $output The output string to output
* @return string A prepared output string
*/
private function prepareOutput($output) {
if ($this->outputMode == 'html') {
$output = '<pre>' . $output . "</pre>\n";
}
return $output;
}
}
?>
Usage:
<?php
$arrayTest = array('Penny' => 1, 'Nickel' => 5, 'Dime' => 10, 'Quarter' => 25);
$integerTest = 344345;
$floatTest = 65.0998;
$arrayDump = new Variable_Data_Dump($arrayTest, true);
$intDump = new Variable_Data_Dump($integerTest);
$intDump->dumpInfo();
$objDump = new Variable_Data_Dump($arrayDump, true);
?>
Sample output:
Variable passed: $arrayTest
Variable type: array
Variable Value: Array
(
[Penny] => 1
[Nickel] => 5
[Dime] => 10
[Quarter] => 25
)
Variable passed: $integerTest Variable type: integer Variable Value: 344345
Variable passed: $arrayDump
Variable type: object
Variable Value: Variable_Data_Dump Object
(
[varName:protected] => arrayTest
[varNameNotFound:protected] => [name_not_found]
[varType:protected] => array
[varContent:protected] => Array
(
[Penny] => 1
[Nickel] => 5
[Dime] => 10
[Quarter] => 25
)
[outputMode:protected] => html
)
